Quantifying the life-cycle health impacts of a cobalt-containing lithium-ion battery

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been criticized for contributing to negative social impacts along their life cycles, especially child labor...     

Crossing relationships and chromosome numbers of Solanum section Solanum in Uganda

The ability of taxa to cross/hybridize is useful information for plant systematists and breeders. Crossability reflects reproductive isolation and the biological species concept stresses the need for reproductive isolation between species to maintain morphological distincness. For plant breeders knowledge on crossing ability facilitate selection of taxa for character improvement breeding. In this study, the crossing relationships and chromosome numbers within and among Ugandan species of Solanum sect. Solanum is studied by making 800 crosses involving 246 combinations. Less than half of these combinations were successful, producing F1 offspring. All studied accessions are self‐compatible and most accessions crossed readily with accessions of their own species. Interspecific crossings failed either to yield seeds, yielded F1 seeds that did not germinate, or resulted in F1s that did not have stainable pollen – implying a crossing barrier; or stainable pollen, but with chromosome numbers that indicated reproduction by apomixis. The results support the taxonomic treatment of Solanum based on classical, numerical and partly molecular evidences. The material studied represents eight Ugandan taxa: S. americanum, a diploid (2n = 2x = 24); five tetraploids (2n = 4x = 48) S. florulentum, S. memphiticum, S. tarderemotum, S. villosum ssp. villosum and S. villosum ssp. miniatum; and two hexaploids (2n = 6x = 72) S. scabrum subsp. scabrum and S. scabrum subsp. laevis. In addition to confirming the ploidy levels of the Ugandan accessions, the ploidy levels of S. florulentum, S. memphiticum and S. tarderemotum are reported for the first time. Non‐Ugandan material of Solanum sarrachoides was found to be diploid. Knowledge of the crossing behaviour and ploidy levels in Solanum will facilitate breeding for character improvement in these important species that are used commonly as food and/or medicine in eastern Africa.     

Distribution and diversity of palms in a tropical biodiversity hotspot (Thailand) assessed by species distribution modeling

Species distribution modeling has been widely used to address questions related to ecology, biogeography and species conservation on global and regional scales. Here, we study palms (Arecaceae) in a tropical biodiversity hotspot (Thailand) using species distribution modeling to assess range‐limiting factors and estimate distribution and diversity patterns based on a comprehensive compilation of occurrence records. We focused on palms as a model group due to their key‐stone importance for ecosystem functioning and socio‐economics. Different combinations of climatic, non‐climatic environmental and spatial predictors were used. The most accurate models as indicated by the ‘area under the receiver operating characteristic curve’ (AUC) statistic were those that combined all predictors. The four strongest single predictors of palm species distributions were, in decreasing order of importance, 1) latitude, 2) precipitation of driest quarter, 3) annual precipitation, and 4) minimum temperature of the coldest month, suggesting rainfall patterns and latitudinal spatial constraints as the main range determinants. Overlaying the predicted distributions revealed that potential palm hotspots are situated in the provinces of Satun and Yala in southern Thailand where vast areas remain relatively open to the discovery of new palm records and perhaps even new species.     

Using basic plant traits to predict ungulate seed dispersal potential

Habitat fragmentation contributes to the decline of plant species by decreasing gene flow among populations. Restoring connectivity among habitat patches is therefore a major issue for plant conservation. However, deciding where to focus restoration efforts requires identifying suitable dispersers for each target plant species. We collected data from the literature on wild and domesticated ungulates, known to be effective seed dispersers, and on the plants they dispersed in Europe via epi‐ and/or endozoochory. We performed a systematic literature review to identify plant and animal traits relevant for seed dispersal. We first modeled the relationships between epi‐ or endozoochory and a priori selected plant traits (diaspore releasing height, length, shape and morphology, and habitat openness). The differences we underlined between the two dispersal mechanisms justified splitting our analyses accordingly. Then, for each dispersal mechanism, we asked whether basic plant traits could be used to predict specific traits of ungulates as endozoochorous or epizoochorous seed dispersers. We modeled the relationships between a priori selected ungulate traits for epizoochory (habitat openness, shoulder height, hair curliness, and hair length) and for endozoochory (habitat openness, body mass, feeding type and digestive system) and plant traits. Plant habitat openness and diaspore morphology were the predictors that most often explained differences among ungulates for epizoochory, whereas plant habitat openness and diaspore releasing height most often explained differences for endozoochory. Our trait‐based predictive models can help improve our ability to propose more precise management decisions for the conservation of plant populations worldwide by taking into account ungulate dispersers.